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An International Journal of English Studies
Editor
prof. dr hab. Grażyna Bystydzieńska [[email protected]]
Associate Editors
dr hab. Marzena Sokołowska-Paryż [[email protected]]
dr Anna Wojtyś [[email protected]]
Advisory Board
Michael Bilynsky, University of Lviv, Ukraine
Andrzej Bogusławski, University of Warsaw, Poland
Mirosława Buchholtz, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Xavier Dekeyser, University of Antwerp / KU Leuven, Belgium
Bernhard Diensberg, University of Bonn, Germany
Edwin Duncan, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA
Guðni Ellíson, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Jacek Fisiak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Elzbieta Foeller-Pituch, Northwestern University, Evanston-Chicago, USA
Piotr Gąsiorowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Keith Hanley, Lancaster University, United Kingdom
Christopher Knight, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA
Marcin Krygier, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Krystyna Kujawińska-Courtney, University of Łódź, Poland
Zbigniew Mazur, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland
Rafał Molencki, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland
John G. Newman, University of Texas at Brownsville, USA
Znak ogólnodostępny / wersje
językowe
Michal
Jan Rozbicki, St. Louis University, USA
Jerzy Rubach, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Piotr Ruszkiewicz, Pedagogical University, Cracow, Poland
Wersje językowe znaku
Hans Sauer, University of Munich, Germany
Znak Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego występuje w trzech
wersjach językowych:
Merja Stenroos, University of Stavanger, Norway
– polskiej
Krystyna Stamirowska, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
– angielskiej
Anna Walczuk, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
– łacińskiej
Jerzy Wełna, University of Warsaw, Poland
Nie można tłumaczyć znaku na inne języki.
Zastosowanie
W e rs ję pols k oję z yc z ną s tos uje my w ma te ria ła c h opra c owa nyc h
w języku polskim, anglojęzyczną - w materiałach w języku angielskim.
Dotyczy to:
– materiałów marketingowych,
– internetu i mediów elektronicznych,
– materiałów korporacyjnych,
– upominków i gadżetów .
Wersję łacińską stosujemy w materiałach opracowanych w językach
innych niż polski i angielski, a także w materiałach o charakterze
reprezentacyjnym.
24/2
The Origin of Aroint and Other -oint-Words in English
41
Bernhard Diensberg
University of Bonn (Professor emeritus)
The Origin of Aroint and Other
-oint-Words in English
Abstract
Regarding the word form AROINT, I am going to propose an etymological base for it in
the group of French loanwords of the structure OIN + consonant. As far as verbal loans
are concerned, the root -oint can either stand for the 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. or for the past
participle of Old French verbs of the type poindre ‘to pierce, prick; to sting, bite’ (AND1:
poindre), uindre, oindre ‘to anoint; to rub, smear’ (AND1: oindre). Apart from a short
Bibliography, the Appendix contains a selection of illustrative material.
The phonological reception of Old French o/u + palatalized n (also referred to
as n mouillé) in loanwords from French has been discussed at length in my habilitationsschrift (Diensberg 1985, §2./90–125). The so-called oint-words go back
to Latin -unctus p.ppl. of verbs ending in -ungere, i.e. iungere ‘to join’, ungere
‘to anoint’ and pungere ‘to pierce’, corresponding to the Old French infinitives
oindre and poindre with their past participles iunctus, unctus and punctus which
ultimately appear in the source language as (an)oint and point from which the
loanverbs join, (an)oint and point are derived (Diensberg 1985, 108). There is
an alternation between forms ending in a nasal consonant and derived from the
present stem, e.g. OF joindre, present stem joi(g)n- yielding English to join, as opposed to the noun joint, derived from the Old French past participle. English coin
v./n. and the variant quoin n. are of different origin and go back to Latin cuneus
wedge (Diensberg 1985, 92f.).
In fact, both -oint- and -oin-words form a rather small subgroup consisting of
joint, anoint and point and combinations to which conjoint adj. and appoint and
disappoint should be added (Muthmann 2002, 276c-277a). The same is true of the
-oin-words such as coin n., join v. and derived subjoin v. and adjoin v.; the noun
loin and combinations such as sirloin n. and, last but not least, isolated groin n.
(Muthmann 177a-177b).
The lexeme under scrutiny is of disputed origin as Professor Anatoly Liberman shows in a recent article conveniently entitled “Shakespeare’s aroint thee,
42
Bernhard Diensberg
witch, for the Last Time?” (Liberman 2014, 55–62). The word or rather the phrase
is attested only twice and exclusively in Shakespeare’s works in a context addressing witches using the phrase aroint/aroynt thee, witch, used as kind of an imprecation, usually glossed ‘begone’ (Liberman 2014, 55). The word occurs only in
Macbeth (I.3; 5) and King Lear (III.4; 113). According to Liberman, “the greater
part of the scholarly literature devoted to aroint predates the 1870s.”
The author gives a critical overview of the relevant literature showing that
no hypothesis by earlier scholars has found general acceptance (Liberman 2014,
55ff.). “An often repeated hypothesis connects aroint with anoint since witches
are related to perform many supernatural acts by means of unguents,” nor can
aroint be regarded as a dissimilation of anoint. Eventually, Liberman makes
a good case for the first element of the phrase aroint/aroynt thee, witch going
back to the rowan-tree (Ger. Eberesche) which in popular belief is considered
to offer protection against witches. However, this hypothesis is not without its
problems.
I would like to tentatively propose an Old French etymon and start from
aroint/aroynt and its alleged variants arongt, aroune/arowne, and arunt (Liberman 2014, 55ff.). To begin with, arongt is undoubtedly a spelling variant of aroint since <ong> may be used for <oñ>, phonetically /onj/ (type III), which in
turn alternates with /oin/ (type I) (see Diensberg 1985, 32). As has been stated at the outset (see Abstract), the phonological reception of Old French o/u +
palatalized n (also referred to as n mouillé) in loanwords from French has been
discussed at length in my habilitationsschrift (Diensberg 1985, § 2./90–125).
Consequently, I am going to connect the above forms with OF roigner/roindre
to cut or lop trees (see OED3: roin v.1) or rather with prefixed aroigner/aroindre (see Diensberg 1985, 111, 113). There is OF röoignier ‘to cut or lop trees’
(T/L VIII: 1464), from L *rotundīre (FEW:X: 517b). OF (a)roindre regularly
has (a)roint 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. and (a)roint functioning as the past participle of the French verb, an assumption which would justify an unattested loanverb *(a)roint; see -point 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. and see point past participle
of OF poindre (Diensberg 1985, 107) and see the etymological discussion under
point v. (OED3).
Thus arunt features ME short u and aroune shows ME long u. The absence
of the dental consonant in the last word is not infrequent and may be due to either
assimilation or may have been modelled on strong participles in -oun, e.g. ME
fon, fun, foune for found p.ppl. (see MED, s.v. finden). Starting from a root such
as *roin- in the above word family, an unetymological or excrescent -t after a final
nasal consonant is anything but rare with loanwords from French (see Diensberg
2008, 42–47). As loanwords such as join (Diensberg 1985) as opposed to (an)
oint and point (Diensberg 1985, 108) demonstrate, there is indeed an alternation of the type -oin (derived from the present stem of Old verbs on -oindre and
-oint, derived from the past participle of that verb group.
The Origin of Aroint and Other -oint-Words in English
43
As I have shown in my brief treatise, there is frequent variation between /oi,
ui/ and long and short u in French loanwords ending in a nasal consonant (Diensberg 1985, 32, 90–125).
From a semantic point of view, the verb aroint rendered by cut, lop, etc.,
combined with thee (witch) could be easily interpreted as an injunction to disappear, corresponding to begone, or simply rendered by beat it!
References
(a) Dictionaries
Barnhart, Robert K., and Sol Steinmetz. 1988. The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology Bronxville/N.Y.: H. W. Wilson. (BDE)
Dubois, Jean, Henri Mitterand, and Albert Dauzat. 1998. Dictionnaire étymologique et historique du français. First published 1964. Reprinted as Dictionnaire d’Étymologie. Paris: Larousse, 2001. (DEHF)
Kurath, Hans, Sherman M. Kuhn, and Robert E. Lewis. 1952–2002. Middle English Dictionary. Ann Arbor/Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.
(MED)
Liberman, Anatoly. 2010. A Bibliography of English Etymology. Sources and
Wordlist. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (BEE), reviewed by
Bernhard Diensberg, in: Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics
and Semiotic Analysis (IJGLSA) 16.2: Fall 2011, 255–277.
Onions, C. T. 1966. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. (ODEE)
Simpson, John A., and E. S. C. Weiner. 1989. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd
edition, prepared from The Oxford English Dictionary (OED2) being a corrected re-issue of a New English Dictionary (NED), edited by James A. H.
Murray, Henry Bradley, William A. Craigie and Charles T. Onions. Oxford:
At the Clarendon Press, 1884–1928, combined with a Supplement to the OED
(OEDS), edited by Robert W. Burchfield, 1972–1986 and reset with corrections, revisions and additional vocabulary, 20 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A third edition (OED3) is now in progress. (OED2), (OED3)
Stone, L. W., Rothwell, William, and T. B. W. Reid. 1977–1992. Anglo-Norman
Dictionary (AND1), London: Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association. A second edition of the AND by William Rothwell et al.
is now underway. So far letters A–M have been revised which will be quoted
as AND2, while the unrevised letters N–Z will be quoted as AND1.
Terasawa, Yoshio. 1997. The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Etymology. Tokyo: Kenkyusha. (KDEE)
44
Bernhard Diensberg
Tobler, Adolf, Erhard Lommatzsch, and Hans Helmut Christmann. 1925–2002.
Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch. 11 vols. Berlin and Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
(T/L).
(b) Monographs and manuals
Diensberg, Bernhard. 1985. Untersuchungen zur phonologischen Rezeption romanischen Lehnguts im Mittel- und Frühneuenglischen. Die Lehnwörter mit
mittelenglisch oi/ui und ihre phonologische Rezeption. Tübinger Beiträge zur
Linguistik 268, Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Fouché, Pierre. 1967. Morphologie historique du français. Le Verbe (2nd edition).
Paris: Klincksieck.
Pope, M. K. 1934. From Latin to Modern French with especial consideration of
Anglo-Norman. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Reprinted 1952ff.
Muthmann, Gustav. 2002. Reverse English Dictionary. Based on Phonological
and Morphological Principles. Berlin New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
(c) Articles and review articles
Diensberg, Bernhard. 2008. “Minor Changes, Alternations, Irregularieties.”
North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE) 53: 29–64.
Diensberg, Bernhard. 2011. “Minor Problems in the Integration of Anglo-French
loanwords.” North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE), vol.
60/61: 109–145.
Diensberg, Bernhard. 2015. “ESCHEW and ASKEW ASKANCE and ASKANT.”
To appear in Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia (SEC) 20 (2015)
Liberman, Anatoly. 2014. “Shakespeare’s aroint thee, witch for the Last Time?”
Neuphilogische Mitteilungen (NM) 115, 2014: 55–62.
Liberman, Anatoly (forthcoming). “A Few Samples from the A-Section of the Prospective Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology (ache, akimbo, aloof, and
askance).” To appear in Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia (SEC) 19 (2014)
Appendix
anoint v. (c1303, BDE)
ME anointen, enointen ‘to smear, daub’, adapted from enoint, enuint p.ppl. of
AF enoindre, enaindre, enhoindre, enuindre, enuingdre; enointer; inoindre ‘to
bedaub; to grease; to smear (with ointment); to anoint; to soak in oil; to sprinkle
with; (fig.) to beguile’ (AND2: enoindre), from L inunguere ‘to smear on’; cf.
the latinism UNGUENT n.; see ModF oindre (DMD 2001: 521a); see MED, s.v.
enointen v., also anointen, anynten, etc.; see Diensberg 1985: 104f., 107, 108; cf.
also OINT v. and NOINT v.; (BDE: 37b; KDEE: 48b; ODEE: 39a)
The Origin of Aroint and Other -oint-Words in English
45
NB: the lowering of AF/non-CF en-, em- > an-, am- in pretonic position is attested
in numerous loanwords in (Early) Middle English manuscripts, e.g. MS Cleopatra
of the Ancrene Riwle (c1225-30) – see E. J. Dobson, ed., 1972, XC – XCIII &
footnotes. Under main stress Anglo-French/non-Central French dialects show the
development of an-, am- (from this source) to aun-, aum- and eventually to on-,
om- as relevant loanwords in (Early) Middle English manuscripts testify - see
(Diensberg 1988, 51–63).
oint v. ‘anoint’ (c1375, BDE) (a1382, OED3: oint v.)
ME ointe(n), ointe(n), adapted from AF oint, uint p.ppl. (derived from L unctum p.ppl. of unguere) of uindre, oindre, hoyndre; oynder ‘to anoint; to rub,
smear’ (AND1: uindre), from L unguere ‘to smear’. See ModF oindre ‘to anoint’
(DMD: 521a, 1120) and oint ‘unction’ (DMD: 521a, s.v. oindre, 15th c.); cf. the
latinism UNGUENT n.; see Diensberg 1985: 104f., 107, 108; cf. also ANOINT
v. & NOINT v. and OINTMENT n.; (BDE: 37b, s.v. anoint; KDEE: 48b;
ODEE: 39a)
point1 v. (c1300, BDE) (c1374-75, OED3: point v.1)
ME pointed ‘having a sharp end’, also pointe(n) ‘to insert the mark of punctuation’
(a1376), also ‘to prick, stab’ (a1400), adapted from AF pointer, ponter, punter ‘to
sharpen; to embroider’ (AND1: pointer1), derived from point p.ppl. of poindre ‘to
pierce’, cognate with point n. (< L punctum); see POINT n.; cf. ModF pointer ‘to
pierce’ (DMD: 594b, s.v. point, 1180) and ModF poindre ‘to stab, pierce’ (DMD:
594a, 11th c.). (BDE: 811b, s.v. point n.; KDEE: 1084b, s.v. point n.; ODEE: 692a,
s.v. point n.)
Nota 1: the role of peint 3rd pers. sing. pres./ point 3rd pers. sing. pres., etc. for
the verbal character (Fouché 1967: 67, 77, 133, s.v. peindre & 67, 77, 221, s.v.
poindre)
Nota 2: OF -aindre, -eindre, -oindre inf., -aint, -eint, -oint p.ppl. will either be
integrated as -AIN (complain v.), -OIN (join v.) if derived from the present stem
-ain(d)-re and -oin(d)-re or as -AINT (paint v.), -OINT (point v.) if derived from
the past participle -aint(e), -einte or -ointe respectively.
Nota 3: all verbs in this subgroup ult. reflect past participles of the type -aint(e),
-einte (< L -inctum) of verbs in -aindre, -eindre (< L -ingere), although the source
language had already formed verbs in -ainter, -einter (< L -inctīre), e.g. depeinter,
*peinter (see above).
OED3 paint v.: The word was prob. earliest adopted in Middle English as the
past participle, leading to the adoption of the form in -t as the present stem form
also, although the present stem is in fact first attested only very slightly later than
the past participle, as are past participle forms in -ed; cf. also the Anglo-Norman
variant peinter and Old French (rare) peintier, pointier. (Cf. also earlier PAINTING n. and discussion s.v.) For a somewhat similar development, see ATTAINT
46
Bernhard Diensberg
v. For the stem form which would normally be expected, see COMPLAIN v.,
DISTRAIN v., etc.
roin v. (arch.) ‘to prune trees’ (not listed in OED3)
ME roine(n), adapted from AF roigner, rogner, roiner, roinner; reoigner;
ronger, rounger, runger, runjer ‘to gnaw; to cut (hair); to clip (coinage); to ruminate on, ponder; (of animals) to chew the cud’ (AND1: roigner); see also
OF röoignier, rëoignier, röeignier, roignier ‘to trim, cut, lop’ (T/L VIII: 1464),
from L *retundīre for rotundīre ‘to round off’, from rotundus ‘round’. Cf. ModF
rogner ‘to cut down’ (DEHF: 673a, reoignier ‘to round off by cutting, shear’
1131; to cut 13thc.). See related PRUNE3 v. ‘to cut/prune trees; REFERENCE:
(Diensberg 1985, 111, 113); MED: roinen (v.(1)) [OF röoignier, roignier, AF
roinner.]
(a) To trim away (putrified matter from a sore); ?trim (the edges of a wound)
c1350(a1333); (b) to pare away the edge of (a coin), clip a1475(?a1430)
OED2: aroint | aroynt, v.
Pronunciation: /əˈrɔɪnt/
Etymology: Origin unknown. Used by Shakespeare, whence by some modern
writers.
The origin of Shakespeare’s aroynt has been the subject of numerous conjectures,
none of which can be said to have even a prima facie probability. (Compare also
arunt v.) The following passages are usually cited as pointing to the same word:
Ray North C. Wds. (1691) has: Ryntye, by your leave, stand handsomely. As ‘Rynt
you, witch, quoth Bessie Locket to her mother’; Proverb. Cheshire. Thoresby Lett.
to Ray 1703 (Yorkshire Words) has: ‘Ryndta, used to cows to make them give
way, and stand in their stalls or booyses.’
In parts of Cheshire (and ? Lancashire) ou /aʊ/ is pronounced ī, ȳ /aɪ/ —i.e. /aʊ/
has been umlauted to /aʏ/ , and delabialized to /aɪ/ ; elsewhere it is reduced to /
aə/ , /a(ə)/ , or /aː/ —so that round becomes rȳnd. Rynd-ta! is thus merely a local
pronunciation of ‘round thee, = move round, move about!’ The local nature, the
meaning, and form of the phrase, seem all opposed to its identity with Shakespeare’s aroynt.
1.In aroint thee! (? verb in the imperative, or interjection) meaning apparently:
Avaunt! Begone!
1608 Shakespeare King Lear xi. 113 He met the night mare..bid her, O light
and her troth plight and arint [1623 aroynt] thee, witch arint thee.
a1616 Shakespeare (1623) i. Iii. 5 Aroynt thee, Witch, the rumpefed Ronyon
cryes.
1816 Scott Antiquary I. vi. 117 Aroint thee, witch! wouldst thou poison my
guests with thy infernal decoctions?
The Origin of Aroint and Other -oint-Words in English
47
1831 P. Heidiger Didoniad ix. 248 Aroynt, thou lingering, long-drawn mortal
Strife.
2.Used by Robert and Elizabeth Browning as a vb.: To drive away with an execration.
1850 E. B. Browning To Flush xviii, Whiskered cats arointed flee.
1878 R. Browning Two Poets of Croisic in La Saisiaz & Two Poets of Croisic
156 That Humbug, whom thy soul aroints.
1880 R. Browning Pietro in Dramatic Idyls 22 Aroint the churl who prophesies
s.v. OED2: †aˈrunt, v.
Etymology: Etymol. unknown.
Obs. To rail at, revile, scold, rate; or ? to drive away. (If the latter is the sense, cf.
Shakespeare’s aroint v.)
1399 Rich. Redeless iii. 221 ? Arounted [MS. has Arountyd] ffor his ray [= array,
dress] and rebuked ofte.
1496 Dives & Pauper (de Worde) vii. iv. 280 Make the plesaunt in speche to the
congregacyon of poore folke..and yelde thy dette & answere peasable thynges &
mekenesse, not to arunt them ne rebuke them ne chyde them.